Life Goes On
by televisionfreak
Summary: AU set after The Gift: Dawn jumps off the tower instead of Buffy, but there was one part of the spell no one knew about. Three months later, Buffy reflects on her life. Buffy's P.O.V.


Life Goes On

Summery: AU after the Gift: Dawn jumps off the tower instead of Buffy, but there was one part of the monk's spell no one knew about. In case the portal was opened and the key had to die, all memories about her, real or fake, would be erased. Now, about four months after the battle, Buffy reflects on her life. Buffy's P.O.V

Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and any character shown, mentioned, or even hinted at belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

A/N: Yay! After weeks of writing, one wrong password, and many days of computer malfunction, I'm finally posting this. Please review, it will make my day. I wrote this as a one-shot, but now I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. Oh, and a million thanks to my best friend Ash for reading this and helping me with my writer's block.

I banged my desk in frustration. Stupid psychology paper. What had possessed me to take _that_ again? After Professor Walsh and the whole Initiative thing, Willow and I agreed that psychology was jinxed. But when you decide to be a guidance consoler...

It all started when Mom died. Willow and Giles thought a support group would be good for me. I ended up helping the other people more than the leader of our group. My friends noticed that and pushed me into making it my major.

I should have done computer science like Willow. Except I can hardly use one and always have to call her over whenever I have a big paper to do because delicate electronics plus slayer strength equals hundreds of dollars in repairs. Thank god for Wil. I guess I could have done English with Tara, except that if it's this much torture to get one little paper done, I can't imagine doing it for the rest of my life. Maybe I would get Willow to go into computer repair. She could make enough money off me to retire at thirty!

I sighed. This wasn't going anywhere. Might as well head over to the Magic Box for some training. Maybe Tara will be there and she can help me with this stupid paper.

Outside, I felt much better. The sun warmed the top of my head, being interrupted every few seconds by the cool, summery breeze. The ocean blue sky was filled with fluffy clouds that looked like cotton candy. Through my sunglasses, I could see hundreds of college students weaving their way around the square.

About half way to the shop, I froze. There it was, looming before me, almost mocking me. If I took a right, it would take me into the main part of Sunnydale, but a left would lead me right to my old house.

The summer after Mom's death, I realized I had to sell it. Bills were piling up, and the house was becoming a black hole for the money she left. There was no way I could live in the dorms and own an empty house, and it would be impossible to live there alone. Willow and Tara offered to move in, but I said no. Helping me care for the house would have eaten away at their college money, especially for Tara, whose family wasn't exactly helpful towards her education. The last time I was there was the day they sold the house. I was packing up my old room when the real estate agent walked in with the new owners. They were a young couple, early thirties, with a two-year-old and another on the way. I shook hands with them, but I can hardly remember what I said. There was something familiar about their daughter, with her long brown hair and big blue eyes. I felt like telling her I knew someone who looked like her, but then I realized I didn't. It was really weird, but I put it behind me and focused on college and slaying.

As I reached the Magic Box, I pushed those thoughts away and opened the door. Willow, Tara, Giles, and Anya looked up as the ringing sound filled the shop. Anya looked disappointed and went back to counting twenties, but the others smiled.

"Hey Buffy, how's the paper going?" Willow asked, putting down the pink crystal she was holding.

"Oh, it's okay," I lied.

"So, still on the first paragraph," Tara joked, giving me an all-knowing smile. I sat down next to her and picked up the newspaper in front of me.

SUNNYDALE POLICE DEPARTMENT TO TEAR DOWN MYSTERIOUS TOWER

I gasped. Willow and Tara both looked up from their books. I showed them the newspaper. Giles and Anya went to see what was going on. They had the same reaction as me.

"Wow," Anya said. "Sunnydale actually admitted something strange happened. Looks like it really is the end of the world this time."

"Yes well," Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them on his tweed jacket. "We cleaned up all the evidence, so there should be nothing to worry about."

Our last big battle. It was probably the strangest thing I had seen in Sunnydale. And that was saying a lot. There we were: bloody, tired, close to death. I was standing on top of the tower. I remember having a purpose, knowing how to stop Glory. I was about to do it, when all of a sudden, a flash of glowing green light shot through the sky to the portal, closing it. The weirdest part was the energy seemed to come from the tower. I was in shock, unable to move. Thankfully, Spike got me down.

When I got to the ground, the scene was chaotic. A beat-up Xander was supporting a bloody Anya, Giles looked like he was made of bruises, and Willow and Tara were shivering, holding onto each other tightly. We made our way back to the Magic Box and tried to understand what was going on, but no one could remember doing anything.

A few weeks later, one of Giles' contacts told him of a monastery that guarded something called the Key. Apparently, this Key opened every dimension, ending the world. The walls would only close when it was all gone. Giles did research for weeks, during which he hardly slept and almost fired Anya a couple times for being annoying. But he still didn't find anything.

Willow looked at her watch and gasped. "Uh-oh, I'm going to be late for class!" she gathered her books as quickly as possible. Pausing only to give Tara a kiss, she raced out the door.

"Tara, don't you have a class soon too?" I asked, remembering her mentioning it once.

"It's in about forty-five minutes," she answered. "And I still have to go by the apartment to get some books. Xander said he'd drive me when he comes by. He should be here in a couple minutes."

I nodded. Tara and Willow's apartment was on the way back to work for Xander, so it should be no trouble for him to take her.

After what happened at the end of last year with Glory, the two witches had become even more committed to each other, if that was possible. They were inseparable for most of the summer, both being so afraid that something would happen to the other. When I sold the house, they decided they still wanted to live together, even if it wasn't to help me keep my mother's house, so they rented a small apartment near the college. It's not very big, but both love it there.

"Buffy," Giles said. "I think it's time you trained."

Getting out of my seat, I followed my watcher into the back room. After asking him to be my watcher again last year, Giles has been more determined than ever to train me. I'm one of the longest living slayers ever, and I he's always scared that I'll get killed. Since I'm not a big fan of that scenario either, I follow his training plans. We did all the basic stuff, weapons, some one-on-one time with the punching bag. Then it was time to go home and get ready.

When I got back to my dorm room, I collapsed onto my bed. My roommate Ashley walked in. By now, she's used to me coming home looking like I've been through war, and just laughs at it.

"Are you ok?" she asked, just to be sure. Once after fighting a really mad demon with a really big ax, I had a huge cut down my right arm. I was going to have Giles see it in the morning, but Ashley saw it and made me go to the campus nurse. I told her I fell down the stairs at my friend's apartment onto something sharp, and I didn't know what because he's a carpenter.

"Yeah I'm fine, just a rough day, with this paper and all,"

Ashley nodded knowingly and put her bag down.

When I first moved back to the dorms, I applied for a single room. I figured that living alone would be easier than having to explain why I was out so late every night and what all those weapons under my bed where for. But there weren't enough rooms left, so they paired me up with Ashley, whose old roommate had moved in with her boyfriend. We're not exactly best friends, and she doesn't know about me being the slayer, but we do get along, and occasionally hang out. The good thing about getting a new roommate junior year is she already has friends, so there's no need for a repeat of the Kathy incident. Just to be sure, I also did every demon test I could find. She must have thought I was crazy those first couple weeks, lurking around after dark gathering her toenail clippings.

As Ashley began to study, I went through my closet quickly and chose a red top and jeans. I showered, put on my make-up, and left for the Bronze.

I walked through the door, feeling the loud music pulse through me. I wandered through the crowd, looking for my friends. I finally spotted them at a table in the back. Willow and Tara were sitting close together, holding hands under the table, and Xander and Anya looked like they were arguing. What a surprise.

"Buffy!" Xander said when he saw me, apparently eager to distract his fiancee from whatever she was ranting about. Three days after the big battle, they announced that they were engaged. Since then, Anya has been wedding-obsessed. It's all she talks about. Like last week, when she and Tara were supposed to be researching. Instead of learning about cloaking spells, Tara had to spend two hours listening to the great "roses or tulips" debate. When Willow and I came back from patrol, she looked like she was ready to strangle Anya with the wedding dress fabric samples. "Come sit here!," Xander finished, patting the conveniently empty seat between him and Anya.

"But if she sits there, you can't see my magazines!" Anya protested. I tried hard not to laugh. Tara and Willow seemed to be too, and Willow wasn't doing a very good job. She had to bury her face in Tara's hair to hide her smile.

To avoid the wrath of a thousand-year-old ex-demon with magazines, I took a seat between Willow and Anya. Xander, bored to tears with the subject of bridesmaid dresses, left to get us all drinks. The rest of us were interested. After all, we're the ones who are going to have to wear the dresses. I heard Anya mention "green ruffles" and turned to look at the others. Wil and Tara looked as scared as I was.

After Xander came back, we managed to pry Anya away from the subject of weddings, and celebrations in general. We talked about movies we wanted to see, then danced for a while. Then a slow song came on. The others all stayed on the dance floor, and I went back to the table.

Ever since Riley left, I've had trouble with dating. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of guys who ask me out, but the Murphy's Law of slayer life always comes back to haunt me: if evil could show up, it will show up. If I had a dollar for every time a hungry vampire ruined a date, I could pay for my entire college education.

Life just hasn't been the same since Mom died. Or maybe it was when I started sophomore year. For some reason I feel like something happened then. In fact, all of last year seems kind of weird, like I'm missing a piece of a puzzle. Tara thinks it's because of Mom getting sick. She says she felt the same way when her mom died. But it seems like more than that. Maybe someday I'll figure out why I feel like this. Or maybe I never will. At least for now, my life is pretty good.


End file.
